It used to be that kids who were involved in sports were cleaner,  i.e. not as involved in drugs, than other kids. Being in good form so you could be a good athlete demanded it. But that’s all changed - even for the very young. A football coach in Boston has just received two years probation, a shockingly lenient sentence, after spending seven years introducing OxyContin and other drugs to his players, the oldest of whom is 15. His personal drug problem started with an injury and prescription drug addiction. Instead of going to drug rehab he went on to heroin, and started selling drugs to his students. Many of them will now be facing the same drug addiction problems he had.

Prescription drug addiction in schools has become epidemic. Some students are taking prescription drugs to get high, others are using them to stay awake for study, and athletes are taking them to relieve pain so they can keep on playing despite injury.

Parents, it’s more important than ever that you become well-versed in what’s going on in the schools - whether your kid is 5 years old or in college - and educate your kids on the dangers of prescription drugs. You may think your kid is clean and wholesome and would never try drugs but, unfortunately, prescription drugs don’t carry the same stigma. Wholesome kids who would never consider taking street drugs don’t think prescription drugs are a problem - after all, they are given out by doctors, how dangerous can they be?

In fact, many of them are worse than street drugs. Prescription drug addiction is harder to kick than many of the other drugs they might run into. The solution is education - parents whose kids talk to them about drugs are 50% less likely to get involved in them - and, if they’ve already started taking them, the answer is a drug rehab program. And do it fast. The longer you wait, the more dangerous it is, and the more ugly it could get. 

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